Many consumer and industrial products are composed of active ingredients or concentrates dissolved in solvents, such as water. To reduce the weight and volume of such a product, the product may be offered in concentrate form, allowing the end user to add a solvent to the concentrate prior to use. Either the concentrate or the solvent may be in solid, liquid, or gaseous form, or a combination of these three. To provide the end user with a container gaseous form, or a combination of these three. To provide the end user with a container adaptable to hold the subsequently diluted product (including both the concentrate and the solvent), the concentrate may be provided in a collapsible or semi-collapsible container. Such a container minimizes packaging space in an initial collapsed state, in which only the concentrate is contained, and then expands or distends to contain the diluted product upon the addition of the solvent.
In one such container, an interior or hollow portion is defined by a relatively rigid portion including a base, sides, and a dispenser, and a collapsible portion joined with the rigid portion and movable with respect to the rigid portion between a collapsed state and a distended state. To make the collapsible portion of the container more pliable, the collapsible portion may be provided with a thinner wall thickness, or be made from a softer or more flexible material, than the more rigid portion. In doing so, the collapsible portion may be adapted to be pliable enough to automatically expand to the distended state when solvent is added to the concentrate in the container, as the filling operation provides sufficient outward force against the collapsible portion to expand the collapsible portion to the distended state.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a representative container 100 as described in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/217,088, entitled “Semi-Collapsible Container,” the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. FIG. 1 illustrates the container 100 in a collapsed state, in which collapsible portion 130 is concave or inverted towards the interior of the container 100. FIG. 2 illustrates the container 100 in a distended state, in which the collapsible portion 130 is convex or expanded from the interior of the container 100. The collapsible portion 130 may be joined to a more rigid support portion 120 by a hinge portion 250 having one or more bends to allow the collapsible portion 130 to flex between collapsed and expanded states. In other embodiments the collapsible portion 130 may be flexible enough to not require a hinge portion, or may be constructed of an elastic material that stretches to expand when the container is filled.
Due to the flexibility of the collapsible portion 130 or hinge portion 250 of such a container 100, which allows the container to expand when filled with a solvent or other fluid, the potential exists for premature expansion or other deformation of the collapsible portion 130. This may occur, for example, when a concentrate or other substance is being deposited into the collapsed container prior to shipment to distribution or retail outlets for being sold to end users. Depositing the concentrate into the container 100 through the dispenser 140, many times done at a high rate of speed, may result in an outward force applied to the collapsible portion 130, due to, for example, an increase in the internal pressure within the container 100 or the impact of the concentrate being deposited. This may undesirably cause the collapsible portion 130 to prematurely expand or otherwise deform in an unintended fashion. This expansion or deformation may result in an increased volume and/or irregular appearance for the packaged product, potentially detracting from the space-saving and aesthetic features of the collapsible container. In addition, maintaining each container in its collapsed state helps to ensure each bottle in the assembly line has substantially the same configuration and shape. Maintaining such consistency from container to container makes the containers more easy to handle in a mass distribution context and also helps to improve their presentation on retail shelves.